The son of a Hungarian diplomat, Rudolf Von Laban was born in Austria-Hungary in 1879. At a young age, Laban was very involved in the arts and took the opposite path of what his military involved father had hoped for his son. After getting kicked out of any secondary schools because of problems with his youth group, Laban solidified his interest for the arts and years later went to Paris to attend Ecole des Beaux Arts School. There, he became fascinated with stage design, drama, and dancing. During his time there, he performed with a troupe in Montmartre, at the Moulin Rouge.
When Laban began his own research while studying, he began to investigate different ancient dances, rituals, and movement habits. As a child, he witnessed many different cultures first hand because of his father's different relocations to different countries. This research along with his studies of architecture became the basis for his future work.
Years after studying in Paris, Laban became the director of a summer festival in Switzerland. There, he began to focus on how forms from nature were assembled from abstract elements. He also began his exploration into space patterns.
When the war interrupted his studies, Laban went to Zurich where he established his own school and taught for a few years. He later began to open schools in various cities and started to go to many different places, including the United States of America, to spread his own teachings. After all his tours had commenced, Laban was asked to choreograph for the Berlin Olympics. After showing his choreography, he was fired from the job and was not allowed to perform his work for the Olympics because he had too many "mixed" ideas that were against many people's beliefs and morals at the time. He fled the country to avoid havoc and ended up in Paris.
Many years after fleeing the country and focusing on his art work, Laban established the Art Movement Studio in Manchester with Lisa Ullman. There, he taught many dancers and continued his research until his death in 1958. Throughout Laban's life, he wrote many books and articles that were based on his studies including, The Mastery of Movement, A Vision of Dynamic Space, and Modern Dance Education. Laban had many ideas and concepts that can still be seen today in the world of dance and art.
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